Crimson Fate
by TheLovelessRose
Summary: Harry knows that he could die if he tries to escape, and yet he can't find it in himself to care for his maybe death. Because death was better than what he had. Dark. One-shot.


xxx

He would escape soon, Harry had decided. The day when he would try to escape was nearing.

It sounded much easier in his head, but Harry understood the consequences of trying to escape the Dark Lord's clutches. He knew that if he were to flee, and somehow escape, he would have no where to go. His friends were either dead quite literally, or dead figuratively to Harry. They had betrayed him in the worst possible way, yet even now, bloodied and bruised, Harry could not find it in himself to simply hate them. He supposed he understood, to a certain extent, why they did it. And he also supposed that they felt they didn't have a choice (though Harry knew that _everyone_ had a choice). But somehow, he felt rather apathetic in regards to the men and women who traded him for protection against an insane Dark Lord's wrath.

They had been losing the war and everyone knew it. People died in startling numbers everyday, and the fights seemed to be getting more destructive and attention drawing. Harry knew that if those kinds of battles continued the muggles would notice, if some hadn't already. He also knew giving up was not an option, at least for the Boy-Who-Lived. He had acted ignorant for the better part of his life, and he knew this, but did nothing to change his actions. Life was a bit easier this way, and it was because of this way of thinking so much more tragedy happened.

He could not blame everything on the manipulative but wise Headmaster, or the insane and death scared Dark Lord. He couldn't even blame it on the kind but grief stricken werewolf that could have taken him in after his parents death but didn't. And although he couldn't blame everything on himself, he knew his attitude and view on the world had simply added fuel to the flames that destroyed what little of a life he had had. If there was one thing he had learned while staying with sadistic death-eaters, it was that the world was unfair and it only wasted energy to hate and curse it.

Somehow, he felt nothing, and though he screamed when the clocked wizards came into his cell to burn flesh from bone and scar his skin, he couldn't find it in himself to hate them. That wasn't to say he suddenly thought of them as gods either, however. They were simply more shadows that covered his already tarnished soul and he felt nothing towards them.

He screamed, sometimes cried, and yet he never begged, because who were _they_ that they deserved to decide his fate?

If Harry escaped with his life still barely intact, he would have no where to go, and he knew this. He knew that the chance of him escaping was slim to none as well. And yet, despite these odds, a laughed bubbled its way up his throat. Anything was better than taking this pain and giving back nothing.

It had nothing to do with revenge, or hate, or love, or honor, or pride. It had to do with _fate_, and how Harry could only find himself hating this one word, and the darkness in his life paled in comparison.

He watched with acid eyes as cloaks swished into existence, flowing and fluttering as if they were smoke taunting and showing Harry the aftermath of their destructive power. And yet they were only smoke, not the flame, and Harry felt like laughing again because they were only the small problems, the smoke, and nothing in comparison to the major problem, the fire. And Harry knew he was perhaps a little twisted, and yet he found that he had the same feeling for his change of personality as he did with everything else: _nothing_.

He simply laughed as he watched the smoke float into his cell, masks of pearl glinting in the light of their spells, and illuminating the crimson of the floor.

And he continued to laugh, even as the life faded from his eyes, and the sanity slipped from his mind.

xxx

The day he decided to run was a dark one.

The day was bleak with gray clouds, rain pelting the ground and thunder sounding like death. But he knew that death was better than what he had, and so he ignored the ominous signs.

He knew that he may die, that he would probably die, but he found he didn't care for his maybe death. He only wanted to prove, for once and for all, that fate would not control him. He would not be broken in such a way, and so he waited with a patience he seemed to acquire in his years in darkness. And as the wizards came to play, he killed them silently with their own wands and a quick snap of the neck, and never looked back.

He felt his skin ripple and change, and he flew into the sky as rain hit his wings and made him stagger, and yet he never looked back, knowing he would soon be found out if he hadn't been already. He flew until the wind became to much and it seemed to pull him to the mud of the earth, his wings twisting oddly and his eyes splashed with dirt and water.

But he stood, and ignoring his useless arm and blooded face, slowly finished the transformation and ran further into the forest whose shadows only seemed to accept him. He didn't know how long he ran, or how far, but when he collapsed to his knees and his pulse slowed, he found himself laughing once more.

And as the rain washed away his blood, he tilted his face to the sky to face the foe he had only just defeated, and laughed even more at the foe he seemed unable to escape.

He laughed until somehow those giggles became sobs and his posture become slumped and clear water became black with dirt and blood.

And he understood, because the crimson eyes across the clearing told him his fate, and his fate was sealed.

xxx


End file.
